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Public service: the price we must pay

It is the beginning of a new year. A time when many of us reflect on the past, pay particular care to the present, and ponder the future. As you may know, I am running to be the next state senator representing District 34. I am often asked why I have embarked on this journey. What are the issues I hope to address?

The late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan taught me that when one enters public life, one surely becomes a public servant. She said that public service is the price we must pay for the space we take up on this earth and I wholeheartedly agree. I am running for this public office because I believe in the power of people and democracy to meet the challenges ahead, to find solutions that will promote freedom and equality, and the need for strong courageous representation to get the job done. I have been in public service all of my life; as a pastor, as an employee of a non-profit, with my service as the director of the Colorado Council of Churches, as a community advocate, as the director of the Agency for Human Rights and Community Relations for the City and County of Denver and as an elected member of the Denver School Board.

In his book, “Profiles in Courage,” John Kennedy wrote that “public service is a field which bears the burden of sacrifice and that, sooner or later, will challenge the servant to that place of courage where one will be called to act courageously.” Our world, our country, our state and our city are filled with many challenges. In Colorado, we are challenged to consider who we truly are as Coloradans and as Americans. Are we, the people, willing to ignore our lands, our water, our youth and our seniors? Or are we compelled to find ways to restructure a state finance plan that embraces our greatest priorities and cares for those in our community who most need it?

Can we work together to achieve a new standard as a community, one that is concerned for all of its families and citizens? Can we make choices that may be a burden now so that future generations have clean air and water? Are we, the working people of this senate district, willing to join with those who have no jobs, who have lost their homes and who need our voices and our concerns to build together, a government that includes them as well?

In our city, right here in Senate District 34, in one zip code alone, 230 homes have been lost to foreclosure. I know that many of you are concerned with the health of our schools, the strength of our infrastructure, and the sustainability of our environment. I have heard from small business owners who are struggling to keep their doors open, and from neighbors who are concerned that if we lose these businesses we will lose much of what makes our community unique.

I have spent the past several months getting to know you better, and hearing about your ideas and your dreams. My understanding and appreciation for this community continue to grow with my knowing you. I hope that in the next days and months you and I will have a chance to discuss the issues that our next state senator must be prepared to address, including health care, education, the state budget, privatization of recreation centers and other public services, foreclosures, economic stability, and pay-day lending.

This article is the first in a series that will reflect on many of these subjects. Please look for my next article in next month’s edition of the North Denver News. And if you wish to learn more about me, please visit my web site at www.luciaguzman4colorado.com.***